View Full Version : Starting northbound flip flop on June 6 - too late start at Harpers Ferry?
My daughter is graduating school then starting a northbound flip flop around June 6. She wants to be hiking with people, so she doesn't want to start too far behind the folks who are thru hiking north from Georgia. If she starts at Harpers Ferry, will most of those people have already passed through, leaving her to hike with few others? or will there be plenty of thru hikers still passing through Harpers Ferry at that time heading north? And if the former, where should she start instead? Thanks!
bigcranky
05-01-2016, 22:15
There will be plenty of northbound thru-hikers in early June in Harpers. There will still be plenty in central VA, for that matter. They will be spread out all over the central 1000 miles of the AT.
She's young, so she might be able to keep up with them. :)
TheCheek
05-01-2016, 22:23
My daughter is graduating school then starting a northbound flip flop around June 6. She wants to be hiking with people, so she doesn't want to start too far behind the folks who are thru hiking north from Georgia. If she starts at Harpers Ferry, will most of those people have already passed through, leaving her to hike with few others? or will there be plenty of thru hikers still passing through Harpers Ferry at that time heading north? And if the former, where should she start instead? Thanks!
She'll be on the early side, but that's good as she travels north and gets hiker legs, she'll settle in after 2-3 weeks with folks on her pace. In other words Nobo's will be flying at this point so it's expected she'd be slower starting out.
Flip flopping there's still plenty of time. She'd also likely be bumping into SOBOers once she heads back to HF.
Many people started their flip-flop at Harper's Ferry 4/16, 17, 18. That's when I started but got quite sick 3 days in so have changed my plans. That being said, you might want to consider starting at the Delaware Water Gap. The first few miles are a moderate to difficult (not hand over hand, just a steady) climb out of the Gap and then it's easy to moderate all the way to the Ny border. Check out a more detailed description on the ATC website of the njstateparks website. Good luck and have a great hike.
June 6 is just a few weeks before the peak period in Harpers Ferry, and it's actually fairly crowded.
Last year on June 6 we photographed 8 northbounders, 2 flip-floppers, and 3 section-hikers; the day before, 14 nobos, 2 flip-floppers, and 4 section-hikers; the day after, 27 nobos, 2 flip-floppers, 1 section-hiker. And that doesn't include the day-hikers, the short-term hikers, the Scout groups, etc., and the long-distance hikers who choose not to stop in at ATC.
Starting a little further north (Delaware Water Gap is a good choice) might be a good option to balance between too many and too few.
If you haven't already, check out the voluntary thru-hiker registration charts at
http://appalachiantrail.org/home/explore-the-trail/thru-hiking/voluntary-thru-hiker-registration/2016-thru-hiker-registration-charts, and the Alternative Thru-Hikes page on ATC's website at http://www.appalachiantrail.org/home/explore-the-trail/thru-hiking/alternative.
Laurie P.
ATC
She'll be a bit ahead of the wave of the northbounders who started at Springer. But I think there's a high probability that she'll meet some flip floppers, some of the fast northbounders, and scads of section hikers, weekenders, day hikers, etc. One is rarely alone for all that long on the AT, especially in that part of it, in June.
twistwrist
05-03-2016, 04:40
I started my flip-flop at HF last year on June 5. I'd say she's timed it about perfectly!
My soon to be graduate will be there June 9!